Page 8 of Demons & Damnation

Kyla’s mouth dropped open and her heart stopped dead. “What? Where?”

He pointed to the back of the pub. “The garden!”

Without a second thought, Kyla ran past him, ignoring the nausea swirling in her stomach as she brushed against him. Bolting outside, she stopped dead when the blazing heat hit her several feet from the hedge. Sure enough, bright orange flames were consuming the ancient oak tree that had sat on the boundary line since before she was born. Charred black pieces of tree floated through the illuminated air. Every passing second only ensured the tree trunk would be nothing but a crispy log.

Dread hit her. It could only have been her fag. So certain it’d been blown out by the wind, she’d thought nothing of tossing it over the hedge.

“I’ve already rung the fire brigade.”

Kyla jumped, not having realised Keith was stood next to her. When his greasy hand clamped around her forearm, she shook her arm free and shuffled backwards. She couldn’t help but shiver when she registered the fact his flesh had touched hers. Thoughts of how much he would have enjoyed those few seconds of skin on skin contact sprung to mind but she pushed them away before she made herself sick.

Glancing around her, it seemed the entire village had now piled into the back garden to watch the slow, miserable death of what had been a rather magnificent tree. The wail of sirens sounded in the distance, surprising her with how fast they’d responded. But as she thought about it, it’d probably taken Keith a good couple of minutes to waddle through from the back room where the phone sat.

“Right, people. Come on, move along please. The fire brigade will need room.” Kyla clapped her hands together and shouted over the low hum of excited chatter. “NOW, please.”

Painfully slow, the crowd began to move out of the garden, congregating on a small patch of grass across the road, outside the village hall. It really said something about village life when the highlight of their year was watching an old tree burning down.

Still, it’d gotten her off work early.

A minute later, the firefighters arrived on site, each man seeming to go on auto pilot with his own job to do in the team chain. Aware of giving them space, Kyla headed back inside the pub to tidy up, lock up, and shut everything down.

As she gave the bar a final wipe down, the rustle of a jacket caught her attention. Seconds later, a young, dark-haired fireman appeared. His bright green eyes were the first thing she noticed. Combined with high cheekbones and tanned skin, he was more than easy on the eye.

“All sorted,” he said. “Unfortunately, there isn’t much left of the tree. Do you know the owners of the land?”

“Kinda,” she said. “Old man Worthington died a couple of years ago. He didn’t have any family except for two nephews he’d not seen since they were toddlers. He left them the estate, but they’ve been travelling ever since, pissing the family fortune up the wall.”

He nodded and pulled a thin smile. “I see. Well, I guess that’s lucky for you then.”

Kyla frowned. “How’s that?”

“Because it was your cigarette that started it.”

Biting back a smirk, Kyla couldn’t help but play with him. He was cute and she loved a bit of flirting. Feigning hurt, she slapped a hand over her chest. “Excuse me? How dare you accuse me. There are plenty of people who smoke around here. What brings you to the conclusion it was me?”

Grinning, he ran his tongue over his lips. “The fact your lighter is hanging out of your back pocket. And your boss said you were out there only minutes before it happened.”

She sauntered back along the bar, wiping the mahogany surface as she eyed the young man, deciding he was in early twenties at the most. Coming closer to her prey, she raised an eyebrow at him as she ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “Have you been staring at my ass?”

He glanced towards the doorway, checking for his colleagues, looked back at her and smiled. “And what if I have?”

“Well, I think I’d have to ask for your opinion.” She stepped towards him and ran her index finger down his navy-blue jacket. Noticing it was unzipped, she slid her hand under it, surprised at the hard chest beneath his cotton t-shirt. “So what do you think then?”

“It’s lovely,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper.

Grinning, she turned slightly, placing her ass just in front of his hand hanging by his side. “Why don’t you see if it feels as good as it looks?”

His eyes lit up with hunger, the temptation of such easy meat taking over any rational thought. He pressed his hand to her ass and when he squeezed, a small groan slipped through his lips.

“My boss will kill me if he sees me in here,” he said, almost breathless.

“Really? Taking risks for me already?” She pushed back into his hand and looked back at him over her shoulder. “I like that.”

He slid his hand up to her lower back, slipped his arm around her hips and pulled her against him. “You’re hot, you know that?”

“Hot enough to burn a tree down?”

“And some.”

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